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Tuesday, 7 June 2016

Drop Dead Gorgeous: The ladies of Bee 2!!

Thet Lilac TCat

Quilting and sewing

Today, Jennifer of The Lilac Cat blog tells us about the two gorgeous quilts she put together from blocks made by the members of Siblings Together Bee 2. Many thanks to Jennifer for giving permission to use her original blog post.Drop dead gorgeous.

Now
I can make that outrageous comment because I didn’t make this quilt
other than the final assembly. Virtually all of the blocks come from my
wonderful bee mates of the Siblings Together Bee 2.
I was Bee mamma for the very first time last September. Siblings
Together is a UK-based charity that brings together siblings that
are split up in our care system for a holiday where happy memories of
being together can be made and bonds kept alive. Each year quilters
across the world make something like hundred quilts so that each child
on these camps can have their own as momento of this special time
together. There are lots of initiatives to get quilters involved.

Being relatively new to quilting and feeling a bit nervous about
taking on the responsibility of other people making for me I did lots of
research as I tend to do when I’m unsure about things. As an aside
ahead of having our first child I read so many parenting books I could
have passed a masters degree in child care although hands on experience
was nil!! Some of it even came in useful! Any way back to my quilt
research I learnt people liked reasonably quick and easy blocks,
preferably enabling them to use scraps, with a fairly broad colour range
and from the mama’s perspective an overall design with wriggle room in
case the blocks are inconsistently sized. Well step forward the Fieldcrossing quilt , a free design from Cloud Nine, it has all these elements and more. Heaven knows why it is called Field Crossing but it is a beautiful design.
So we now have a finished quilt and isn’t she a stunner. I think it may be my favourite quilt to date.

I chose an all over fmq design of curves to complement the pointy
elements of this design. The wadding was Dream Puff and the finished
quilting was certainly more pronounced and puffy. Apparently it’s nice
and warm and not as thin feeling as some other waddings. Don’t worry I
shan’t be sleeping under it to check the product’s claims!!
In fact it must’ve been an easy block to make because most of the
members very kindly sent me way more than I asked for, in fact enough to
create two quilts. This is the other one.
I wanted this one to have a bit more masculine feel to it hence it’s
rather strong graphic design. It’s also made thinking that there will
probably be teenage boys and some will be very tall. I think I may have
reached the absolute maximum size on my domestic sewing machine. Just
now need to get these labelled and off. Am I the only one who hates the
labelling…..?

Why we make the quilts.

How you can help:

Make a quilt on your own.....
or with friends.....
Donate fabric, blocks,
binding, wadding and/or thread.....
Join a Sibling Together Bee.....
Sponsor materials.....
Quilt a quilt.....
Bind a quilt.....Contribute to the blog
Become a Siblings Together Cheerleader.....Write for the blog